1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a paper skew correcting device for correcting paper skew (papers inclined and conveyed askew) conveyed on a belt or the like through a processing device, and more particularly, relates to a paper skew correcting device and a bill depositing/dispensing apparatus that use the skew correcting device, which can correct various types of paper skew of different paper sizes, paper quality and the like, with high accuracy, without creasing any piece of paper.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional paper skew correcting device may be seen in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H6-115767, which proposes a conventional paper skew correcting device. In FIGS. 11A and 11B of that Publication, a conventional paper skew correcting device 100 comprises a pair of tapered rollers 111 and 112 disposed on a driving shaft 110 at a predetermined interval in such a way that their respective small diameter end surfaces are opposed to each other at the center of a paper conveying route and a pair of pinch rollers 121 and 122 which are provided for a driven shaft 120 in such a way as to press the tapered rollers 111 and 112. The pinch rollers 121 and 122 are provided along the driven shaft 120 in such a way that they can slide along the shaft, and pushing both sides of each of the pinch rollers 121 and 122 by springs 123a and 123b, and 124a and 124b, respectively, which are pierced through the driven shaft 120, regulates the slides.
In a configuration such as the conventional paper skew correcting device 100, the stress generated when paper moves askew is applied to each of the pinch rollers 121 and 122, the pinch rollers 121 and 122 move and change the pressing position of each of the tapered rollers 111 and 112 to automatically correct the paper skew.
However, in the above-described conventional paper skew correcting device 100, since the driving shaft 110 pierces through the center of each of the tapered rollers 111 and 112 and the driving shaft 110 and the driven shaft 120 are fixed in parallel to each other in a specific position, both types of rollers lose contact with each other when either of the pinch rollers 121 or 122 that touch on the center of the tapered surface of each of the tapered rollers 111 and 112 moves to the small diameter side of the tapered surface. Therefore, paper skew cannot be corrected for this structural reason.
Furthermore, in the above-described conventional paper skew correcting device 100, although paper skew are corrected by moving each of the pinch rollers 121 and 122 using the stress generated when papers move askew, the amount of movement of each of the pinch rollers 121 and 122 depends on the elasticity of the springs 123a and 123b, and 124b and 124b, respectively. However, since the stress generated when papers move askew varies depends on variables such as the size of the papers, paper quality, and so forth, the springs 123a, 123b, 124b and 124b, which possess specific elasticity, cannot completely correct various types of paper skew.
For example, although high reliability is required for a bill depositing/dispensing apparatus simultaneously capable depositing and/or dispensing bills of several countries, paper skew are easily caused, which in turn causes jams or poor reading of the bill type since bill sizes vary for each respective country. Thus, although more highly accurate paper skew correction is required for such a bill depositing/dispensing apparatus, such highly accurate paper skew correction cannot be realized by correcting paper skew using the stress generated when papers move askew, such as in the above-described conventional paper skew correcting device 100.
Furthermore, although it is preferable in a bill depositing/dispensing apparatus for a bill fed to a customer to have no creases and folds, in the conventional paper skew correcting device 100, there is a possibility that creases, folds or breaks may be caused when each of the pinch rollers 121 and 122 for pressing papers moves along each of the tapered rollers 111 and 112. Therefore, the conventional paper skew correcting device 100 cannot be applied to the correction of paper skew in a bill depositing/dispensing apparatus.
Patent reference 1: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H 6-115767